Indian Council for Cultural Relations

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous body under MEA, was founded in the year 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.

The objectives as enunciated in the Memorandum of Association of ICCR are to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations; to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries and to promote cultural exchange with other countries and people.

The ICCR has 19 Regional centres spread all over India. They serve not only as a connect to the foreign students and their well being, but are also involved in projecting cultural activities at the state/ city level. They also provide platform to show-case foreign talent as well as Horizon Series for local artistes.

The 38 Cultural Centres and 2 Centres in PPP model in different parts of the world promote awareness of India’s composite cultural heritage abroad. They are under the administrative control of the Council and their respective Indian Missions abroad. Paris and Washington are the new ICCs in the pipeline.

The activities of ICCR are broadly categorized under three important Heads, (i) Administration & Establishment, (ii) Culture and (iii) Education.

One of the flagship programmes of ICCR includes offering of 3938 scholarships annually to foreign nationals from approximate 140 countries all over the world, under 26 schemes. Online admissions taking place on the A2A (Admissions to Alumni) portal launched by our EAM in January, 2018 ensures a smooth, efficient and transparent process.

Towards meeting the primary mandate of the Council to create international understanding through culture, ICCR sponsors hundreds of Indian Outgoing Cultural Delegations (OCD) abroad, both within the ambit of India’s Cultural Exchange programme with different countries and outside it. The Council also hosts Incoming Cultural Delegations (ICD) to promote foreign cultural presentations in the country. In addition, the Council implements cultural projects on behalf of MEA, Ministry of Culture, the Parliament, etc.

ICCR in consultation with Indian Missions abroad, has established 65 Indian Chairs in various foreign Universities, besides Nelson Mandela Chair in India. It also organises International Conferences under Conferences and Seminar on diverse subjects covering a wide spectrum.

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The ICCR hosts Exhibitions, Distinguished Visitor’s Programme, Academic Visitors Programme, Publication, maintenance of a well-stocked library and the manuscripts of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, digitisation of rare manuscripts, publication of Gagnanchal (Hindi bi-monthly), promotion of Hindi, presentation of books, art objects and musical instruments to Institutions abroad.

Besides the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and the Gisela Bonn Award for a German national, the ICCR has also instituted the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Distinguished Indologist Award and the World Sanskrit Award in 2015 respectively, to recognise the contributions of foreign scholars in the field of art, culture and literature.

ICCR has been vigorously involved in coordinating International Yoga Day (IYD) celebrations at a global scale. The organisation of recently held Kumbh Mela witnessed participation of 186 delegations from 184 countries. ICCR is celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi Ji globally. It is now coordinating the marking of 550th birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji.

Youth Seminar on “Teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and Sikhism Contribution in Universal Well being” was organized by the Council on 6 November 2019 followed by visits to 03 Takhats to Patna, Amritsar and Nanded from 7-10 November 2019.

The Council organised the first of its kind 2 days conference titled “Destination India-Making India the Preferred Hub of Education” in collaboration with Symbiosis International University and Savitribai Phule Pune University from 28-29 January, 2020 to brain storm ways and strategies of attracting foreign students to India and making India an attractive destination for higher education. The conference was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development and witnessed the participation of reputed Government organisations like UGC, Ministry of Home Affairs, IITs several Art and cultural institutions, etc.

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